A Virginia Tech win and Duke loss would deadlock four or five teams atop the Coastal, and the Hokies would claim tiebreakers in either case. So the result of next week’s Miami-Pittsburgh game is irrelevant to Virginia Tech’s chances.

Such was the fallout of early games Saturday that saw Duke defeat Wake Forest, and Miami top Virginia.

The Blue Devils (9-2, 5-2 ACC) lead the Coastal by one game in the loss column over Georgia Tech (7-4, 5-3), Virginia Tech (7-4, 4-3), Miami (8-3, 4-3) and North Carolina (6-5, 4-3).

Duke will advance to its first ACC championship game with a victory over UNC in next Saturday’s regular-season finale. But a Tar Heels’ victory would create a three-, four- or five-way division tie.

Here are the four possible tie scenarios, ALL predicated on Duke losing to North Carolina:

* If Virginia Tech defeats Virginia, and Miami beats Pitt, there’s a five-way tie among Virginia Tech, Georgia Tech, Duke, UNC and Miami. The Hokies would advance to the ACC championship game Dec. 7 in Charlotte based on their 3-1 record versus the other four. The Blue Devils, Yellow Jackets and Hurricanes would be 2-2 against the others, the Tar Heels 1-3.

* If Virginia Tech defeats Virginia, and Pitt bests Miami, there’s a four-way tie among Virginia Tech, Georgia Tech, Duke and North Carolina. The Hokies and Yellow Jackets would be 2-1 against the other three, and the Hokies then would advance based on their victory over the Jackets.

* If Virginia upsets Virginia Tech, and Miami defeats Pitt, there’s a four-way tie among Duke, Georgia Tech, Miami and North Carolina. The Hurricanes and Jackets would be 2-1 in that pod, with the Hurricanes heading to Charlotte courtesy of their win over the Jackets.

* If Virginia Tech and Miami stumble next week, there’s a three-way tie among Duke, North Carolina and Georgia Tech. Since the Yellow Jackets defeated the Tar Heels and Devils, they would go to the title contest.

I can be reached at 247-4636 or by e-mail at dteel@dailypress.com. Follow me at twitter.com/DavidTeelatDP